21 July 2010

Froglife outlines future direction…

Froglife is announcing its strategy for the next five years, to help the charity continue to develop, in what are likely to be challenging times for the wildlife conservation sector.

Like many charitable organisations, Froglife remains concerned about how deeply the Government will choose to slash spending on wildlife conservation, and how realistic a ‘Big Society’ concept really is, on a national scale, when many parts of the voluntary sector are already running at maximum capacity.

Whatever happens, communicating effectively how charities are offering value for money in their charitable activities will become more important, says Froglife’s Chief Executive Kathy Wormald:

“Like all sectors, we have a responsibility to show that we offer value for money, and show that we are using our resources in the best way to reach our aim, which is to stop amphibians and reptiles declining further,” said Kathy. “In my experience, many organisations within the wildlife sector have a good history of this, though, to survive what could be deep cuts, we all have to improve how we communicate the benefits of our work, for people and for wildlife.”

Today, Froglife launches formally its annual review, and an ambitious five year business plan which outlines how we intend to progress in the coming years, against an economic backdrop many are predicting to be gloomy.

“Times are harder certainly, though there are reasons to be cheerful,” said Kathy. “For Froglife, we have recently recruited a number of new Froglife Friends, new staff and trustees. It may be that the public become more supportive of our cause as a wildlife charity, when they realise that some other funding sources are drying up. Their donations have never been more important.”

If you would like to support Froglife, why not consider Froglife Friendship? Froglife Friendship enables you to support our work for a year, and you also get our glossy new newsletter Natterchat, plus special invites to events. To be part of efforts to help amphibians and reptiles in the UK please click here.

NOTE TO READERS: that Froglife business plan in a nutshell...

1. Conserving species and habitats: we have eight ongoing projects contributing to improved habitats and conservation science. We want more. To date, around 160 volunteers have been involved in our Living Waters programme in Glasgow and London, creating and restoring urban ponds. We have plans to develop this work to include urban centres in the UK.

2. Educating and inspiring new audiences: we have worked with over a thousand vulnerable young people in Peterborough, teaching them about amphibians and reptiles, and creating opportunities to have fun and explore outdoors. To Froglife, these groups matter as much as those in mainstream education. We want to influence and develop our work with both audiences. We are also aiming to expand our work with young people to London and Glasgow in the next two years.

3. Communicating knowledge and encouraging support: we recognise that we need public support to ensure we are effective in our fight for a brighter future for our amphibian and reptile species. With our new website and revamped publications we are continuing to reach out to diverse audiences, sharing ideas and conservation 'tactics' and inviting new people to join the Froglife family!